Literacy in the 90'sThe Role of SIL

Adult Literacy: Where the Future Is Now

One-on-one literacy (Amaya language, Bolivia)

The vast majority of SIL's work in the field of literacy has focused on adults.
Attention to adult literacy is seen as being important for two reasons.
First, adults are the ones who bear the responsibility of seeing to the
welfare of their families and communities. They must make decisions having
long term consequences for themselves and their children. They need to
make use of every possible resource to carry out this responsibility well.

Secondly, experience has shown that when children become literate while
their parents remain illiterate, a process of social disruption and disorientation
is apt to set in, producing confusion on all sides. A culturally sensitive
approach to literacy must give serious attention to this issue.

For those living where there is frequent contact with the national socioeconomic
system, literacy is a watershed skill. A Blaan man from the Philippines
made this point cogently when he said, "Years ago, when we voted, we had
to put our thumb print on the ballot to show that we had voted. Even then,
we couldn't read the ballot so we didn't know for whom we had voted. Now,
we can read and sign our ballots like any educated Filipino. Tomorrow,
a Blaan name will be on the ballot. Then we will know that we have arrived."